Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (67 page)

“I want to have a normal life.”

“My little warrior,” he whispers, “normal isn’t for you. You Elissa, are made to be a predator,” his voice caresses Elissa enticingly.

“
Fuck that!” Elissa shouts her eyes cold shards of ice with anger and she flips him two birds.

“Look at you!” Apollyon says cheerfully. “You, the predator in training are either totally naïve, or complete
ly brave. Either way, you have the warrior’s blood for having dared me, knowing who I am…” he says kissing the tips of her middle fingers.

“Lucky for you, you’re not someone else. Otherwise, I’d be forced to cut those fingers
into bite size pieces and feed them to you. Right now, I’ll be satisfied enough if you just put them away,” he says and waves his hand. Elissa’s arms are forced to her sides, but she resolutely manages to keep her middle fingers extended.

“See how you resist me!
I LOVE IT!
You are a predator!”

“
I’m not a predator!” Elissa protests, shouting.

“You’d fool me by the
way you wielded Gabriel’s sword or the way you shot me with arrows made of heavenly light… You are a warrior’s daughter. He’s created to fight, to lead, and so are you.”

“I’m not a fighter!”
Elissa shouts; her voice is a feline growl. This time she manages to move her arms and shove him away. Apollyon is more excited than ever with eyes bright as a stadium light.

“Oh, Elissa, I’d love to try to mold you. I’m even willing to share…”
He reaches up to her and places his hands firmly on her upper arms, completely excited.

“I don’t trust you! Get your infernal hands off me!”
she hisses and tries to slap his hands off but he keeps them on her firmly, his fingers digging into her cold flesh. That’s fucking it! I close my eyes, and locate Elissa’s soul. Connecting my soul to hers, I manage to merge our bodies momentarily. I lend our collective strength to her body and swing an undercut then land a roundhouse kick to his abdomen with the force of three Nephilim. Apollyon is not only peeled off of Elissa, but he’s also tossed with a severe force into the jagged face of the granite wall. The absence of his touch makes Elissa wake up from his inebriating spell.

“Now, Elissa!”
we shout, urging her to expel Apollyon from her father’s dungeon. With inhuman strength, she swings the flaming sword which finds its target on the wall making Apollyon dissipate from the dungeon. Even in his domain, Apollyon isn’t immune to Gabriel’s sword’s unexpected attack. With Apollyon’s absence, Marcus’ shackles loosen immediately and the spell binding his speech and body is also lifted. Marcus is motionless on the floor for a long minute. Then he shakes his body, shedding the remainder of the spell. Tension and fury are vibrating all over his body, creating a crackling, electric field around him. Suddenly the large dungeon is a small place with Marcus’ growing rage. I’m not sure where he is going to direct that. I take a defensive position to protect Elissa from a possible attack from her father.

“In my presence, Apollyon tries to entice my daughter! He has declared war, made his intentions clear: He wants you either as a key to heaven or
as a weapon,” Marcus booms walking in the limited allocated movements allowed by his chains. There’s resolve in his voice. I can hear the gears turning in his mind, making plans, reaching a decision. He stands before Elissa, looking at her with a concerned gaze, his shackled arm reaching out to her. Chains grind and protest loudly.

“Who is Apollyon?”
Elissa asks.

“
He is the Morning Star! Satan in the flesh!” he exclaims. “Are you alright?” he asks anxiously, his eyes scanning Elissa from the top of her head to her toes.

“Daddy, you’ve just been frozen, and put under a spell. You’re asking
me
if I’m okay?” she asks. “I’m just as dead as I was when I entered here. Nothing happened to me. I’m okay.” Marcus shakily works on a swallow. His hands reach the top of her shoulders to check her well-being and reassure himself that she really is alright. Both Courcillion and I proverbially sag in relief.

“Tell me what happened out there
. How you came…here,” he asks trying to make light of her fall into Hades with assumed calmness. The grief in his eyes is evident. Anguish caused by the helplessness of a parent. How well do I know the feeling. Elissa tries to make light of her ordeal in Tartarus for him, but he sees through her.

“Start where you left off, and leave nothing out,” he orders.

“Okay,” Elissa says with a sigh, taking in a breath and exhaling. Somehow I know that she’s doing it out of habit and not need. Marcus sits on the ground and Elissa sits before him cross legged, and then starts without a preamble.

“After inoculating me with Cerberus’s fangs and poison from its tail, Nieto was going to encase my soul within my body inside my
Hieron Osteon
…” she pauses but Marcus nods, gesturing her to go on. “But Azaziel’s creatures caught up with us only four hours before my death occurred. We needed to wait for the poison to spread because my body was stronger than Nieto expected and it was putting up a good fight,” she says leaving out the pain and blood. Yet there’s not much you can hide from Marcus who has existed since before time and he closes his eyes in pain. “Unfortunately that was before he could push the final plunge of Cerberus’s fang to put me in a death state, but Phlegethon attempted to finalize my death as a sacrifice. Nieto was distracted by many of the infernal beings and I think there may have been some
Fallen
as well. I don’t know, I was busy…you know…dying,” she says shrugging. Marcus visibly shudders. His hand reaches for Elissa’s hair and he rubs it with his toughened, callused human hand. Large beads of crimson tears brim his eyes, and he averts his gaze away from Elissa.

“How long do you have with me?” he whispers.

“I don’t know,” she whispers back suddenly she looks like she’s trying to swallow a cavern filled with sorrow. “I suppose I can’t be here for a long time because my death is a temporary state. If Alex and Duke Courcillion can’t pull me back and revive me, this could be my final death,” she murmurs nonchalantly.

Marcus’
lips move up in the semblance of a smile. Hearing my name he relaxes a little. He knows I’m in love with Elissa and bonded to her. I can retrieve her.

“You’re here! With me… You really are here!” he exclaims
finally fully realizing Elissa is in Hades with him. His shackled wrists lift up and the chains rattle loudly reminding me of the sounds of a shipyard. His hands cup her face. His gaze bores into her examining every detail of her face, committing it to his memory. Satisfied with something internally, he sighs relieved and closes his eyes. Finally putting his dusty forehead over to Elissa’s, he kisses her hair, forehead and cheeks for long minutes, taking in her scent with long inhalations. I am almost in a trans-like state. What would my reunion with my children be like? I push the thought aside to reexamine it when our ordeals are over. Through our connection Courcillion reminds me that I have to be vigilant right now.

“Still like the spring lilacs…”
Marcus murmurs to himself. “My child is here! My baby is here! My broken angel is here,” he sobs. I feel chagrined and I feel Courcillion’s unease to be intruding on a very private moment of a father who is reunited with his child. Elissa crawls into his arms and lets her father’s love blanket her. I can painfully feel her soul grieving right along with Marcus’s. Elissa curls up in his lap like an infant and closes her eyes in relief as she lays her head over her father’s chest. I watch her sag in contentment with the unconditional love and acceptance of her only parent. Marcus rocks Elissa back and forth, soothing her while his silent crimson tears wash over Elissa. When she sobs into his chest, I close my eyes tight, trying to suppress the urge to reach out and embrace her.

“I missed you daddy,”
she weeps. She doesn’t ask him if he missed her or even if he loves her. Marcus, one of the highest ranking angels among the
Watchers
allowed his brother to lower him into such a tormenting state in exchange for protecting her life. If not for my own love for her, how can I let Marcus’s many centuries’ long efforts be for nothing? I decide that would go a very long way to prevent him from experiencing the torment on his knees when he realized she was dead. I feel like a voyeur watching the parent and child sit holding each other for hours. Elissa slowly runs out of tears but the dry heaves continue to jerk her body. I look away to give her both privacy as much as possible and to bottle up some more control over my urge to reach out and hold her.

After long minutes,
“Do you know why I came here? I have gone someplace else before,” she queries.

“Gone? What do you mean gone?”
Marcus asks concerned.

“Uhm… I was…
Alex has shown me a memory and I’ve fallen into a different path. Anyway…” she says shaking her head as if remembering something, a resolution. “I don’t know maybe... I’m still thinking of leaving Alex’s care to free him from my servitude,” she says and my head immediately jerks back hearing her segue. Not this shit again!

“What?”
growls Marcus, completely bewildered.

“Please, daddy,
you have to understand that I have just learned that I am a Nephilim on my 21
st
birthday which was also the day I was attacked not once, not twice, but three times! Alex is under the forced bond or oath or whatever you put him under. He realized that I was going to leave, run away, and go… so he was sort of cornered by my runaway tendencies and had to share a memory with me. I had gone to someplace else when I entered into his memory… A place I vaguely remember. But, this…” she says gesturing around, “this path has been beyond unimaginable. The journey has been excruciatingly painful but I am very happy to see you! So, whoever planned it, regardless of their intent, I’m thankful to have found you. You have no idea how your love filled a giant void within me,” she whispers slowly looking down at her hands as if they hold the secrets of the universe.

“Me too. But I think it’s the design of three angels who are sworn to protect you. Hailey, I’m guessing is Hedone
. Her soul is pledged to me which by default opens up a direct route for you to find me. Whoever planned this must be aware of an impending danger…” he says, as his voice goes down to a whisper. This is news to me. Did Courcillion know? Of course he did! That explains why he showed up unexpectedly. Marcus closes his eyes and waits for several minutes to calm down. His lips move in such a speed, words don’t come out and I am unable to decipher what he is saying. But I know I can make out one word which he repeats often: Deus.
God
. Is he praying or putting another ward? Elissa’s question voices my inner concern.

“You’re not putting another ward on me, are you? If you are, don’t make it about my love life please. For what it’s worth
, dad, would you have it any other way with my mom? Would you not want her to have the free will to love or dislike you?” Marcus opens one eye and raises an eyebrow in response. In fact he chuckles for the first time. Elissa’s gaze softens hearing his chiming laughter.

“You are very much my daughter, but also fiercely independent like your mother. She wouldn’t
even let me name you. You see, the fathers named the children. But your mother was very stubborn. She chose your name because you came to her in a dream,” he divulges a piece of her history I didn’t know about Elissa.

“Why am I named Elissa then?”
she asks.

“Your name means ‘the wanderer’ and the ‘sun’. You told her you’ll be forced
to wander through many lives, but finally shine like the sun. You told her not to cry when you wandered for the first time if it happened in her lifetime.”

“Did she? Cry I mean?”
Elissa asks. Marcus nods, finally looking ahead, seeing some distant memory.

“She cried
because you were a part of her. She grieved because she wouldn’t get to see you again, but was proud that she was the mother of someone who was destined for greatness. But she tried to save you the first time… She died when you were two,” he says with a soft voice, his gaze drifting to a distant memory.

Elissa’s t
ears trickle again in awe of this mythical mother she’s never met who lived many centuries ago, realizing her mother died when she was very young. I can’t take the grief my girl is going through and I call out her name.

“
Elissa!
”

W
ith the call of her name, Elissa’s body jerks and arches with the force of our forged bond. Marcus pulls her back to him with lightning speed. Fear grips me. I worry that he won’t let go of her.

“
Elissa, come back baby! Elissa…
” I shout again but Marcus holds her firmly. She clings to him even tighter.

“I don’t want to leave you, daddy! I just found you!”
she whispers fervently. He strokes her hair and bores his gaze to her face again. A sad smile comes over his face.

“I want you to go and live and fight for your existence. Don’t, I repeat don’t let anyone make you think that you don’t belong or you’re an anomaly of creation. What you are is a one of a kind gem. There’s none like you. That makes you price
less. If you’re priceless, rare and exceptional, it is only natural for everyone to want you for one reason or another. It isn’t your fault that I had to look for ways to save your life. I protect what is mine! And you’re my child…” he says fervently trying to instill his love into her mind. I momentarily relax my pull of her. Her lips quivers and quakes. She looks smaller, holding onto him, inhaling his scent to commit it to her memory.